JPH0919887A - Auto-cutter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an automatic cutting mechanism from locking even in the case where foreign mater has intruded to the part of cutting to hinder the cutter element from advancing, by installing a cutter driving lever which is rotatable round the detention part against the action of a lever spring in case where the cutter element is stopped moving farther. SOLUTION: When a cutter element is stopped moving downward owing to foreign matter 20, a cutter driving pin 8-1 is stopped moving in the direction of Arrow g1. In association therewith a cutter driving lever begins rotating in the direction of Arrow P1 against the action of a lever spring 13 round the pin 8-1 as the rotational center, and the end 8a of a long hole 8-3 separates from the lever shaft 9 for further rotating. Because a lever driving shaft 5-2 follows a circular track, the cutter driving lever rotates in the direction of Arrow P1, and the end 8a of the long hole 8-3 is rotated by the spring 13 so as to come in contact with the lever shaft 9, and then the cutter element moves in the direction of Arrow g2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic cutter mechanism for automatically cutting a long recording sheet in a printing apparatus or the like which issues a receipt at a cash register.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic cutter that drives a cutter blade by using a motor as a drive source is stopped by the motor being stopped when foreign matter is mixed in the moving range of the cutter blade to prevent the cutter blade from moving. The structure was designed to prevent damage to the cutter blade.

[0003]

In the auto cutter having the above structure, the motor is stopped to prevent the cutter blade from being damaged.
This can be realized by strictly controlling the torque of the motor, which causes an increase in management cost and an increase in unit price of parts, resulting in an increase in cost. Further, in the production of the motor, the yield is poor due to strict standards, and the productivity is reduced.

[0004] Even if the motor torque can be properly managed, if the motor is used in an area where the voltage varies greatly, the motor will not stop and the cutter blade will be damaged, especially if a voltage exceeding the standard is applied. Eventually, a service call occurred.

Further, in the case of this mechanism, the motor is suddenly stopped, so that the wheel train such as gears for driving the cutter blade must be thickened so as not to be damaged even if the inertia is applied, so that the size cannot be reduced. Was something.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, to prevent the cutter blade from being damaged by a simple mechanism, to provide a compact and inexpensive autocutter with a small size and a simple control.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, an auto cutter according to the present invention is provided with a cutter blade that is provided with a blade for cutting recording paper and is movable in the front-rear direction, and has a recess or an elongated hole at one end. A cutter drive lever having an engaging portion that engages with a cutter blade at the other end, a cutter drive gear that includes a lever drive shaft that engages with the cutter drive lever and that reciprocally rotates the cutter lever, and a recess or an elongated hole The cutter drive lever has a cutter drive lever spring for urging the cutter drive lever so as to come into contact with the rotation shaft, and the cutter drive lever is centered on the engaging portion against the cutter drive lever spring when the movement of the cutter blade is stopped. It is characterized by being rotatable.

Further, it has a shield plate arranged around the cutter driving gear at a predetermined angle and a detector for detecting the shield plate, and the signals obtained by the detector are at the standby position of the cutter blade and the partial cut position. It is characterized by changing.

Further, the cutter driving lever spring is characterized in that it is in the vicinity of the recess or the elongated hole, and the urging direction thereof is directed to the rotation axis.

[0010]

In the auto cutter having the above structure, when foreign matter enters the cutter blade in the traveling direction and the movement of the cutter blade is hindered, the center of rotation of the cutter lever pulled by the cutter lever spring moves. The cutter drive gear can rotate a predetermined amount without locking.

Further, since the signal obtained by the detector changes depending on the standby position and the partial cutting position of the cutter blade, the signal can be used to control the stop of the cutter blade and the progress of the cutter blade.

Further, since the urging direction of the cutter driving lever spring is directed to the rotating shaft, the torque of the cutter driving lever spring can be reduced.

[0013]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing apparatus used for a cash register equipped with an auto cutter according to an embodiment of the present invention.
31 is receipt paper for passing the printed record to the customer, 3
2 is a journal paper for storing printed records, 15
Is a writing table, 33 is a print head, 34 is a ribbon cassette, 10 is a cutter blade holder, and 14 is a cutter cover of an automatic cutter. The auto cutter unit will be described in detail below.

2, 3 and 4 are detailed explanatory views of an auto cutter portion showing an embodiment of the present invention, all showing a state in which the cutter cover 14 is removed. 2 is a top view of the autocutter portion viewed from the arrow z direction, FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2 viewed from the arrow y direction, and FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 2 viewed from the arrow x direction. A detailed description of each component will be given below.

A cutter motor 1 is provided with a motor gear 2 and is capable of forward and reverse rotation. A reduction gear 3 is engaged with the motor gear 2. Reference numeral 16 is a cutter transmission gear meshing with the reduction gear 3.
A transmission gear 4 includes a spur gear 4-1 that meshes with the cutter transmission gear 16 and a worm gear 4-2 on its side surface. Reference numeral 5 includes a worm wheel 5-1 that meshes with the worm gear 4-2, and further includes a lever drive shaft 5-2 and a shield plate 5.
-3 is a cutter drive gear shaft-supported by the cutter drive gear shaft 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes a detector in which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged so as to face each other, and a shield plate 5-3 can pass between them.
-3 is an optical sensor that detects the presence / absence state and detects the position of the cutter drive gear 5.

Reference numeral 8 is an elongated hole 8 which engages with the lever drive shaft 5-2.
-2, a cutter drive pin 8-1 for displacing the cutter 11 is provided at the tip end, and an elongated hole 8-3 for engaging with a cutter drive lever shaft fixed to the cutter cover 14 is provided at the other end. Cutter drive lever equipped with. Reference numeral 11 denotes a cutter blade having an elongated hole 11-1 that engages with the cutter drive pin 8-1, and slits n1 and n having different lengths near both sides of the tooth tip.
1 is formed.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a cutter blade retainer which regulates the movement of the cutter blade 11 in the direction of arrow a1, and 12 regulates the movement of the cutter blade 11 in the direction of arrow a2, and both sides of the cutter blade 11. Is a cutter blade receiver that restricts the cutter blade 11 so as to move straight. An opening 17 through which the receipt paper 31 passes is arranged in the cutter blade holder 10 and the cutter blade receiver 12 to regulate the movement of the receipt paper 31 in the width direction and the thickness direction. Reference numeral 13 is a cutter drive lever spring for urging the cutter drive lever 8 in the direction of arrow b1.
The end portion 8a of 3 always contacts the cutter drive lever shaft 9.

Next, the operation of the automatic cutter having the above-mentioned configuration for cutting the receipt paper 31 will be described. In the present embodiment, the receipt paper 31 is cut into two parts, that is, a full cut with only one point left as a joint as shown in FIG. 5 and a k1 part and a k2 part as shown in FIG. Partial cuts can be made by leaving two points that are joints. One point left full cut is intended to partially connect the issued receipt paper 31 so that it will not fly during full cut, and the part connected by j when the operator pulls the receipt paper. Is cut by its attractive force. In addition, leaving two points, the partial cut connects the top and bottom.

First, the operation of full cut with one point left will be described. The description will be made also using the time chart of FIG. 7. 2 and 7, the auto cutter is located at a position where the cutter blade 11 is away from the opening 17 through which the receipt paper 31 of the cutter blade retainer 10 passes, and the optical sensor 7 is the shield plate 5 of the cutter drive gear 5. The position that is started to be shielded by -3 is the standby state. In this state, when a receipt paper cutting command is issued, the cutter motor 1 is applied to rotate in the direction of arrow c1, and the transmission gear 4 is rotated in the direction of arrow d1 via the reduction gear 3 and the cutter transmission gear 16. It By the rotation of the worm gear 4-2 of the transmission gear 4,
Worm wheel 5 meshing with worm gear 4-2
The cutter drive gear 5 having -1 is rotated in the direction of arrow e1, and the optical sensor 7 continues to be shielded by the shield plate 5-3.

The cutter drive lever 8 is a lever drive shaft arranged on the rotating cutter drive gear 5 in a state where the end 8a of the elongated hole 8-3 is always in contact with the cutter drive lever shaft 9 by the cutter drive lever spring 13. Since it is displaced by 5-2, the cutter drive lever 8 rotates in the direction of arrow f1 around the cutter drive lever shaft 9 as a rotation center, and the cutter blade 11 is rotated by the cutter drive lever shaft arranged at the tip of the cutter drive lever 8. Moves in the direction of arrow g1.

When the cutter motor 1 is further rotated, the cutter blade 11 is further moved by the rotation of the cutter driving gear 5, and the receipt paper 31 in the opening 17 is cut. When the cutter motor 1 is further rotated, the shield plate disappears at the position of the optical sensor 7, so that the optical sensor 7 receives light from the state in which the shield plate 5-3 of the cutter driving gear 5 shields it. . When the cutter motor 1 continues to rotate further, the cutter blade 11 is further moved and the cutter drive lever 8 is moved.
Peaks in the direction of arrow f1.

After that, since the lever drive shaft 5-2 for driving the cutter drive lever 8 orbits, the cutter drive lever 8 is rotated about the cutter drive lever shaft 9 in the direction of arrow f2, and the cutter blade 11 is rotated. Is moved in the direction of arrow g2.

Further, when the cutter driving gear 5 is rotated,
The cutter drive lever 8 changes from the arrow f2 direction to the arrow f1 direction, and in the vicinity of the change point, the state in which the optical sensor has received light is shielded by the shielding plate 5-3 and is changed to the light shielding state. When this change is recognized, it is determined that the cutter motor 1 is in the standby state, the application to the cutter motor 1 is stopped, and the cutting process is completed (the same state as in FIG. 2). FIG. 8 shows the state of the cutter blade 11 at the peak time in the direction of the arrow f1 during the above-described full cut. As can be seen from FIG. 8, since the receipt paper 31 is not cut in the m portion, the receipt paper 31 is connected to that portion (the cutting portion is in the state shown in FIG. 5).

Next, the operation of partial cut leaving two points will be described. In the description, the cutter time chart of FIG. 9 will also be used. When a command for partial cut leaving two points is input, it is applied so as to rotate the cutter motor 1 in the direction of arrow c1 as in full cut, and the cutter drive gear 5 rotates in the direction of arrow e1 via each train wheel. The cutter blade 11 moves in the direction of arrow g1.

When the cutter motor 1 continues to rotate, the cutter blade 11 is further moved to start cutting the receipt paper 31 in the opening 17, and eventually the shield plate 5-3 that shields light at the position of the optical sensor 7 disappears. As a result, the optical sensor 7 receives light. The process up to this point is the same as in the case of full cut, but in the case of partial cut, when the optical sensor receives light, the cut motor 1 is stopped and its rotation is reversed in the opposite direction of arrow C2. FIG. 10 shows a peak time in the direction of the arrow g1 at this time, and although the receipt 31 is almost cut, since the slit n2 having a short length is in the opening portion 17, that portion is not cut, The receipt paper 31 is connected at both ends.

When the cutter motor 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow C2, the transmission gear 4 is rotated in the direction of arrow d2 via the reduction gear 3 and the cutter transmission gear 16, and the worm gear 4-2 causes the cutter drive gear 5 to move. Since the cutter blade 11 is rotated in the direction of arrow e2 opposite to the direction of arrow e1, the cutter blade 11 moves in the direction of arrow g.
Moved in two directions.

Since the optical sensor 7 stops the cut motor 1 immediately after receiving the light and reverses its rotation in the opposite direction of the arrow C2, after receiving a predetermined time due to backlash of the train wheel or inertia, When the cutter driving gear 5 is rotated in the direction of arrow e2, it is shielded by the shielding plate 5-3 again.

Further, when the cutter motor 1 continues to rotate in the c2 direction, the optical sensor 7 is turned off by the shield plate 5 immediately after the standby state.
Light is received because -3 disappears. When the light reception is detected, the rotation of the cutter motor 1 in the direction of arrow c2 is stopped, and an application command is issued to rotate the cutter motor 1 in the direction of arrow c1 to rotate the cutter motor 1 in the direction of arrow c1. Similarly, after the light is received for a predetermined time due to the backlash of the train wheel or the inertia, the cutter driving gear 5 is rotated in the direction of arrow e2 so that the light is again shielded by the shield plate 5-3. Immediately after detection, the arrow c1 of the cutter motor 1
Stop rotation. This state is the standby state of FIG. 2,
It is the same as the case of full cut.

The above is the description of the operation of the auto cutter according to the present invention.

In the above-mentioned auto-cutter, a command for full cutting is issued leaving one point for the operation in which a foreign object such as a clip enters the moving range of the cutter blade 11, and the foreign object is placed at the slit n2 where the length is short. The entered example is shown in FIG. 8 and will be described with reference to the drawing.

The cutter motor 1 rotates in the direction of arrow c1,
Although the cutter blade 11 is moving in the direction of arrow g,
Will block the movement and stop the movement.

Further, since the cutter motor 1 continues to rotate in the direction of arrow C1 and the cutter drive gear 5 rotates in the direction of arrow e, the lever drive shaft 5-2 causes the cutter drive lever 8 to move in the direction of arrow g.
Displace in the direction. However, since the cutter blade 11 has stopped moving due to the foreign matter 20, the cutter drive pin 8-1
Is stopped moving in the direction of arrow g, the cutter drive lever 8 starts rotating in the direction of arrow P against the cutter drive lever spring 13 with the cutter drive pin 8-1 as the center of rotation, and the elongated hole The end 8a of 8-3 is further rotated away from the cutter driving lever shaft.

As the lever drive shaft 5-2 circularly orbits, the cutter drive lever 8 rotates in the direction of arrow P1, and the cutter drive lever spring 13 causes the end 8a of the slot 8-3 to move to the cutter drive lever shaft 9. The cutter blade 11 is rotated so as to abut, and after the abutment, the cutter blade 11 is moved in the direction of arrow g2. The cutter motor 1 is rotated to a standby position where the optical sensor 7 is shielded by the shield plate 5-3 of the cutter drive gear 5.

In this way, even if the movement of the cutter is hindered by foreign matter entering the cutter movement range, the cutter drive lever 8
Since the rotation fulcrum of the cutter can be displaced, the cutter driving gear can rotate.

The cutter drive lever of this embodiment has a cutter blade drive portion at one end, a cutter drive lever drive portion at the center, and a movable fulcrum portion at the other end. Other layouts are also acceptable. For example, the same effect can be obtained even if the cutter blade drive section, the fulcrum section, the cutter drive lever drive section, or the cutter drive lever drive section, the cutter blade drive section, and the fulcrum section are arranged in this order. is there.

Further, the cutter driving lever spring of this embodiment is
As shown in FIG. 11, since the spring force is biased in the direction of arrow b1 at a distance r from the elongated hole 8-3, the load torque of pr is applied to the cutter motor 1 when the spring force is p. In order to reduce this load as much as possible, r should be set to 0 as much as possible and the direction of the spring force should be directed to the rotating shaft 9.

[0037]

As described above, in the auto cutter of the present invention, when foreign matter enters the cutting portion and interferes with the movement of the cutter blade, the mechanism is not locked and the mechanism is not damaged.

Further, since the spring force can be controlled by the accuracy of the parts, no special control is required. Strict torque control is not required when the cutter motor is locked to prevent the mechanism from being damaged. Torque does not fluctuate due to fluctuations, and reliability is greatly improved.

Further, since the inertia does not suddenly increase, the gear train of the gear can be thinned and the miniaturization can be achieved.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of the motor and provide an inexpensive auto cutter.

Further, it has a shield plate arranged at a predetermined angle around the cutter driving gear and a detector for detecting the shield plate, and the signals obtained by the detector are at the standby position and the partial cut position of the cutter blade. Since it changes, full cut and partial cut can be controlled with a simple detection mechanism.

Further, since the cutter drive lever spring is in the vicinity of the recess or the elongated hole, and the biasing direction thereof is toward the rotating shaft, the load of the cutter lever spring can be reduced, so that the load on the cutter motor can be reduced. Motor miniaturization,
It is possible to achieve low current consumption.

As described above, it can be said that such effects of the present invention are extremely large.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing apparatus on which an auto cutter according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 2 is an arrow view of the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the arrow z direction.

FIG. 3 is a view of the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention as seen from the direction of arrow y.

FIG. 4 is an arrow view from the arrow x direction of the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the receipt paper cut in a full cut state with one point left by the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a receipt paper cut in a partial cut state with two points left by an auto cutter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a time chart at the time of full cutting of the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cutter blade 1 of an auto cutter according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The top view which shows the maximum stroke of 1.

FIG. 9 is a time chart when performing a partial cut in the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a top view showing the maximum stroke of the cutter blade 11 during partial cutting of the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the auto cutter according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a top view for explaining the operation of the auto cutter when a foreign matter 20 enters the recording paper path.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 cutter motor 2 motor gear 3 reduction gear 4 transmission gear 5 cutter drive gear 6 cutter drive gear shaft 7 optical sensor 8 cutter drive lever 9 cutter drive lever shaft 10 cutter blade retainer 11 cutter blade 12 cutter blade receiver 13 cutter drive lever spring 14 cutter Cover 15 Writing board 16 Cutter transmission gear 20 Foreign matter 31 Receipt paper 32 Journal paper 33 Print head 34 Ribbon cassette

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An auto-cutter that cuts continuous recording paper into full cuts or partial cuts with a desired length, a cutter blade that has a blade that cuts the recording paper, and is movable in the front-rear direction, and has a concave or long end A cutter driving lever having a hole and an engaging portion that engages with the cutter blade at the other end, and a cutter driving gear that includes a lever driving shaft that engages with the cutter driving lever and reciprocally rotates the cutter lever, A cutter drive lever spring for urging the cutter drive lever so that the concave portion or the elongated hole contacts the rotating shaft, and the cutter drive lever is configured to drive the cutter when the movement of the cutter blade is stopped. An auto-cutter capable of rotating around the engaging portion against a lever spring. 2. A shield plate disposed around the cutter driving gear at a predetermined angle, and a detector for detecting the shield plate. A signal obtained by the detector is a standby position of the cutter blade and The automatic cutter according to claim 1, wherein the automatic cutter changes at a partial cut position. 3. The automatic cutter according to claim 1, wherein the cutter driving lever spring is in the vicinity of the concave portion or the elongated hole, and the biasing direction thereof is directed to the rotary shaft.